How to be less boring! “Your ad reminds me of the color beige”

Not many people will respond with the color beige as one of their favorites. But it’s a color, so why aren’t more people expressing their love for it?

Because it is insanely boring!

And for the most part, so are your ads.

A key ingredient for an engaging ad design is enthusiasm. Without it, you are left with a piece of advertising as dull as the waiting room in the dentist’s office. It’s void of any flare, spark or luster. Enthusiasm is not something which is only conveyed through physical conversation. Sure a great salesman will always be the person who exudes a desirable passion for the product that he or she sells. But unless you are selling door to door, how do you expect your passion to be conveyed to the general public using your print ad?

Our lives are way too busy for us to notice plain advertising in the back of the local paper. Similar to an ad that reads, “We have this product, so call us at this number!” Human beings are selfish creatures. Our attention is only earned after an advertiser answers the looming question of “What’s in it for me?”

And if their answer is compelling enough and only then, will we give that business a slick of our valuable time.

So knowing this undoubted fact about our race, why do so many businesses continue disseminating the same old, tired, frayed and boring advertisements? My guess is either they don’t know any better, which I am here to fix, or they revert back to the same mindset that caused me to leave the military after eleven years.

“That’s just the way it’s always been done.”

Ugh! If that’s your response, please consider what I am about to tell you. Everyday, the average person is presented with over 3,000 requests to buy something in the form of online banner ads, newspaper, radio, Facebook, bus stops and a thousand other platforms that, for the sake of brevity, I’m not going to get into. Seeing that our attention is fought for like the home run winning baseball at the World Series, why do you think for a second, that someone is going to acknowledge your ad? And not only acknowledge it, but take the time to respond, and make a purchase.

I’ve been told countless times, that a business has refused to advertise in a certain publication because they didn’t notice a return on their investment. And don’t get me wrong, your decision may be justified, but have you ever stopped to think that maybe the problem was a result of a weakly worded ad with little to no incentive for the viewer to take action?

Now let me share a few tactics for boosting your creativity during the design phase.

The next time you sit down to design your latest quarter page piece of advertising, try designing it like you were using a napkin at a local restaurant to show your buddy what your business is all about. Detail the problems you can solve, and how your business can make the customer’s life easier. Also, never use confusing words and industry slang in your ad copy. Unless you are trying to sell your product within that industry (i.e. medical equipment to doctors) leave that stuff out. The average Joe is not going to waste time Googling your selling points.

Your advertising is an extension of you. You’re the person who stockpiles the passion for your business. When you talk about your business with others, your eyes twinkle, your heart begins to race, your voice becomes more dynamic and people are instantly attracted to you.

All you have to do is write your ads with that same fire. Heck! Try recording yourself giving someone a thirty-second sales pitch, and then have the audio transcribed into text. Use that text to cut and paste the most attractive selling points, and BOOM…

Now you have an ad that is spilling over with enthusiasm!

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm; it moves stones and charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories without it!” ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton

P.S. Bent Business Marketing is fully capable of designing you an ad that converts into sales. Interested? Call us today @ 815.441.2219 ~Andy #themarketingguy